"C.A.R.S on behalf of Tiscali - Debt not even owed!! Help pls"

[::Lisa::]

Hi all,

Up until April 8th I was on Tiscali for my telephone and Broadband service. To cut a very long story short....

I signed up Tiscali Sept last year with a 1 year contract. Broadband speeds were poor (lower than dial up speeds a lot of the time) and disconnected off the internet every 2-5 mins (yes, no joke!) I was constantly on the phone with their tech support. Most of the time they told me they was sending 8meg down the line and everything was fine.

Eventually filed a fault. Never fixed it in the few months. Promised me my money back when it gets fixed for payment of services.

I finally gave up and decided I did not want to be with this company even if they could get it fixed and demanded that I leave, which was granted since they hadn't fixed the problems within their ToS agreement time.

Heard nothing ever since. Today get a letter through the post with a red huge font REMINDER

Apparantly I owe them £13.62. Do I shoot them a letter to their address on the letter I received?

Thanks,
Lisa

[buzby]

Depends. Who sent the letter? If a DCA reply saying the contract ended due to their clients inability to provide service under their T&C. If Tiscali, reject it stating the same.

[::Lisa::]

Originally Posted by buzby

Depends. Who sent the letter? If a DCA reply saying the contract ended due to their clients inability to provide service under their T&C. If Tiscali, reject it stating the same.

It's a computer generated reply sent by Tiscali.

Tiscali header and footer on letter including address etc. It has a big red "REMINDER" on it, even though this is the first correspondence I received from them!!

I also forgot to mention that I complained to them when I had their service and a lady replied via email stating that they had credited my account with £20. They hadn't and if this had been the case I wouldn't owe them anything that month.

If they were going to refund me for their poor service as they stated I should also be in credit and they owe me money, not me owing them!

Shall I shoot a letter off saying that? Anything I can quote from the law in this matter?

Sorry for my delay in responding, I hadn't subscribed to my thread *blush*

[buzby]

Seems pretty standard - just respond to them pointing out the lack of agreed refund and let them sort it out. (provide date time of the call or copy email if you have one)

[::Lisa::]

Well I never had a chance to write to them and they referred me to a debt collection agency (C.A.R.S) for the £18 I then wrote to them stating a dispute on the costs and explained that no payments will be made etc. Said I have evidence of the fact they owe ME money not vice versa.

Fast forward to today. They've ignored my letter and said that someone is going to come out this upcoming Thurs for some reason. I guess to try and collect the funds. Won't be opening the door to them though.

Also, not sure why someone has moved my topic to a 'wrong' area. This needs to be moved to the debt collection agency forum.

[buzby]

It's better with BB as they are primarily an ISP and your problems would be spotted easier by other Tiscali customers (than buried away in the debt forum!).

If they do call, don't hide behind the door - if you can speak through an open window. And if you can record the exchange with an audio or video camera, even better. Once you explain that there is no debt, and CARS have not responses to your letter of XX/XX/XX give a copy of it to the caller and suggest is wasted journey could have been saved if they had responded.

[tomterm8]

Originally Posted by buzby

It's better with BB as they are primarily an ISP and your problems would be spotted easier by other Tiscali customers (than buried away in the debt forum!).

If they do call, don't hide behind the door - if you can speak through an open window. And if you can record the exchange with an audio or video camera, even better. Once you explain that there is no debt, and CARS have not responses to your letter of XX/XX/XX give a copy of it to the caller and suggest is wasted journey could have been saved if they had responded.

They won't call. it's just a scare tactic.

[Percival Wigglesbottom]

Tiscali are awful. The internet is awash with horror stories about their services, customer support and difficulty in getting out of your contract with them. Id be tempted to drag this visitor in by the ear point him to the BT socket and say 'you sort it out'.

Joking thou, dont let him in.

[livelylad]

Thread moved and title changed.

[buzby]

Originally Posted by tomterm8

They won't call. it's just a scare tactic.

Don't see how you can say that. They have a network of self-employed agents who do this very task. Better to be prepared in case they do, than hide behind the door in case they don't.

[mrmarmite]

better still, do thay have an appointment? no, you have the legal right to use minimum force to remove them.
just threaten u will call the cops as they trespassing

[buzby]

You do not need an appointment to visit anyone's address, neither would it be tresspasing if they had a legitimate reason to call. As for calling the cops, you'll find they will be far from sympathetic if you expect them to remove callers you don't want from your doorstep. If they invited themselves in, that might be a different matter but this isn't the issue.

[rory32]

99.9% of the time DCA's do not call at people's houses. I can hardly imagine them rushing round for the princely sum of £18.

If they were to call, ask them politely to leave. If they don't leave phone the police and inform them that someone is trespassing on your property. Remember these people have no more legal rights than the average bloke in the street.

If you are concerned about their threats of sending someone round to your house, then you may wish to send them the following:

Dear Sirs,

Please be advised that I am only prepared to communicate with you in writing. OFT rules and regulations clearly state that you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have no wish to make an appointment with you. There is only an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.).

Therefore take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives, to visit me at my property and if you persist in sending “doorstep callers” to my home, you will be reported for harassment and be liable for damages for a tort of trespass. You would also be liable for conspiring in a tort of trespass by acting in defiance of my instructions and sending someone to visit me nevertheless.

Should it be necessary, I will obtain an injunction.

Yours sincerely,

[tomterm8]

Originally Posted by buzby

Don't see how you can say that. They have a network of self-employed agents who do this very task. Better to be prepared in case they do, than hide behind the door in case they don't.

If their business is like most businesses, they have an opportunity cost (rather than running cost) of at least £70 an hour. To get to you for a 10 minute meeting, probably requires another 15 minutes of travel, so would cost them somewhere in the order of £30. This would be unrecoverable.

The debt is £13.

They tend to send you a letter, hand delivered (by the postman) that tries to pretend they've called.

Even if they do call, all you have to do is tell them to leave three times, then call the police. They are commiting the tort of tresspass. you have no obligation to speak to them.

They are entitled to visit your property, but not to stay on it if you order them to leave.

[::Lisa::]

Wow this thread moved on since I last visited

I refuse to deal with them and their little chumps that call around (if they do) the only thing I will be saying to anyone IF they do turn up is that they've failed to read and respond to my letter, that I don't owe the debt and have a whole lot of evidence (25 emails in fact) of that and if they continue to follow this up then I will follows the steps given above (thank you )